Celebrating My Independence in a Most Independent Way

Since turning to a life of archaeology, I have celebrated very few ‘Fourth of Julys’ properly. Properly consists of 1. Being in America; 2. Eating delicious food fresh off the grill, various sorts of salads, and lots of watermelon; 3. Watching fireworks; and 4. Being on the beach or near water. That is what I, as a girl from the water-abundant places in the Midwest, think of as being good ways to celebrate being an American.

Well, it is the Fourth of July once again and once again I am not in America. I have not eaten anything delicious today except for the last of my jelly beans which I brought from the States. There are certainly no fireworks, although I could probably count the lightening we had. And the closest I have come to a beach was the sand that got in between my toes and I hurried through the park on the way back from the museum during a watery downpour. Here I am in France, probably the only American for at least 30km, celebrating my independence to the fullest extent…alone.

I know, I am in France!, but the Fourth of July is my second favorite holiday (Thanksgiving will always take the pie!) and while I am here alone in this dark and abandoned dormitory (yes, the very same one from last year), it makes me miss home and the few traditions I still enjoy. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to recount some of my favorite July 4^th celebrations that took place outside of the U.S.A.

2011

Last year I was in the city of Chatillon-sur-Seine, France having arrived the day or so before from Dijon. I did have someone ask ‘Oh, isn’t this your country’s birthday? Happy Birthday!’ This made me smile a bit. Nothing else that exciting happened. Ten days later though, I was back in Dijon and they were celebrating their country’s Bastille Day complete with some spectacular fireworks! (See this post for photos). I silently pretended they were for America. 

2009

I was a week into excavations at Alalakh in southern Turkey. The heat was unbearable most days, but the evenings were rather comfortable. There were a fair number of Americans at the site, so we all knew what the day should hold in store. The Fourth of July fell on a Saturday, which meant we had both Friday and Saturday to celebrate since it was still early in the season. We grilled like we did every weekend and at some delicious, delicious food! There was music, dancing, and lots of alcohol to go around. It was a beautiful night for sleeping on the roof and watching the stars pass through the night sky.

2007

After a day of excavating at the coastal site of Kenchreai, we headed back to our hotel in ancient Corinth, Greece. We were an American run excavation and there were about fifty of us. There was no way we were not going to celebrate the Fourth of July! I remember I packed party hats and noisemakers for the event! I think there may have even been a birthday or two that we decided to celebrate as well. Before we even began, we were told by our project leader that we should not draw attention to ourselves or be loud (this was at about the height of the world hating us). We said we would move our cocktail party to the back porch instead of the roof and celebrate there; a fair compromise it seemed to us. Well, the noise makers did not go over well with the project director and we were told to ‘shush!’. It did not matter though because even though the noise makers went away, the party hats stayed as did all of our cocktail attire and joyful spirits! We even had sparklers! It was a fantastic celebration with a wonderful, laid back group of people with whom I shared some of the greatest memories and conversations of my excavation career.

2006

And finally, probably my favorite Fourth of July celebration away from home. I was near Batman, Turkey in the southeast excavating with local residents and ‘the Italians’. As per usual in that part of Turkey, it was hot. There were four American students (including myself and my soon-to-be-best-friend, Ami), and our professor from GVSU. I seem to remember the students discussing what we should do for the Fourth of July, if anything at all. We all seemed to be a bit disappointed that we would miss it. When we arrived back at the hut that night, we found that while the Italians were at the market, they found a form of sausage that is about as close as one can get to a hotdog in a foreign land. We had all the proper fixings for our ‘hotdogs’ on the grill and tons of watermelon! I believe there was some mild drinking involved as well. This was by far the most special Fourth of July for me because there was a tender extension of consideration and respect for our traditions. Buying hotdogs may seem like a simple and silly thing to gush over, but at that time with so much of the world despising us, it made me see that some people could recognize that we were people too and that we did not need to be ashamed of who we were.

That wonderful hotdog...

After remembering these past Fourth of July celebrations, I come to see that you do not need to be in America to celebrate the Fourth of July, but it does work best if there are other Americans to celebrate with you! Hope you all celebrate the crap out of today for me!

Incredible Thoughts

Though I have left Turkey and am home safe and sound, a part of me is still there in spirit...mostly in the form of me describing my Turkish trench assistant to people. He was, to keep it short, a unique spirit whom we termed "The Incredible Edible" in conversation (due to his name, which I will keep secret).

The Incredible Edible tended to speak somewhat poetic English and we later decided that he must think in haiku (5-7-5 for syllable beats). Once we determined this, my good friend Liz was able to tap into his possible thought processes and create some haiku based on real events from this summer. These are the results of her brilliance:

Sleeping-
I need a mattress
I think I'll take her mattress.
Why is she angry?

Bathing-
This water is cold
Thank you for reinforcing
My thought processes

Laundry-
My clothes are dirty
I'll put a lemon with them
And they will smell clean

Eating-
Adam and Lily!
I'm hungry and I am dream-
ing of the meatballs

Hygiene-
They say I'm dirty
But I cannot smell myself
So I must be clean

Sharing is Caring-
I'll take Katie's Coke,
But I'll give some to her friend,
So she can't be mad.

Day in the Life-
This was a big day
First I ran the wheelbarrow
Then sat in the shade

My trip to Iran-
They said I was lost.
But I wasn't lost at all.
I knew where I was.

A visitor-
My girlfriend's coming
Maybe I'll take a shower;
No, I guess I won't.

Creature comforts-
Fans are great for naps.
Maybe one fan is enough
But two are better.

Lost in Translation-
Katie spoke Turkish
But my Turkish is better.
I'll reiterate.

Diplomacy-
Katie's workers call
Her names. But I won't tell her.
She might get angry.


I kid not, all of these are absolutely based on real events. To be fair, he was a kind guy, but was definitely unique. If you are ever interested in hearing more, I have many, many more stories to share :)

The Countdown Begins!

On my way home soon! Good riddance! Its been a long two months with me basically working non-stop (part of the reason I have not recapped my 'good-spirits' on the blog). Anywho... Excavation finished last week and I'm just finishing up some paperwork and writing a final report. I'm heading back on the 31st of August, then back to MN a few days after that. Yikes! My feet just don't stop!

Anyway, hope you all at least enjoyed the pictures despite my silence. It wasn't all bad, but it definitely wasn't good for the most part. I'm sure in a month or so I'll be back to saying, "oh, it wasn't so bad..." If I get that way, remind me of my daily debates with my workmen, my flaky/ lazy assistant, so-so food, and being sick a total of 5 times. Thanks :)

On the upside, I still love Turkey, the people, and the language. This experience has only tainted my flavor for the archaeological excavation. When I'm away from the site, I'm back to being a happy Katie. I'm sure I'll be back, but next time just for traveling fun, no more excavations (at least not here!).

Photo Update!

I'm way too super busy to write, but I'll include some photo updates so you all can at least see what I'm up to. Things are getting better around here, although everyday or week has its ups and downs. I can't say I'm healthy, but I am happy, so things are good! I'll try to write soon!

Photos 1
Photos 2
Photos 3

The Baklava Battle

Overall things are going well at the site. I am making decent progress in my trench and have been told by my supervisors that I'm doing a good job. The area isn't too complicated yet. I have a wall, which we removed this week to get to a lower level, and now I have another wall which I started work on today. Both of my walls are made of mudbrick with stone foundations, at least the one. The rest of my trench is fairly blah because I am working through layers of fill (dirt) before I get to levels where actual activities took place.

I have been getting along well with my workers and am improving my Turkish daily. Things were going well until yesterday where there was an incident concerning baklava. I basically said all of my workers couldn't stop working at once to eat baklava (it was to celebrate the birth of one of their nephews), but that they could take turns eating it. They had a break an hour earlier and I didn't want them to stop working. There is a little more to it, but that's the situation in a nutshell. It set off a storm of anger and my workers stopped talking to me for the rest of the day. I apologized at the end of the day for the misunderstanding and they said it was fine, but only one worker talked to me the entire day today.

Things have been stressful in the trench for other reasons too. I was given a new assistant who is Turkish. Things were pretty good the first day. His translations were helpful and we got a lot of work done. That was the highlight of his work career though. He has overslept twice in four days and shows up an hour+ late to the site. He also talks a lot, which slows work down and he doesn't do anything unless I ask him to. Between him and my young workers (4 are 21 or younger), I am essentially babysitting the entire day. Alas. Luckily there is only one day left this week and then I am free. Hopefully this weekend will give them some time to relax.

On a high note, I had a great time this past weekend. I went into Antakya with some of the Turkish folks and we walked around for the entire day. We started off by going to the Antakya Museum which has some amazing mosaics! Wow! The color and detail of these were phenomenal! While these were the highlights, there were some other interesting pieces and some cool things from our site on display as well.

While in the city, we walked around the bazaar, some of the old city with amazing architecture, and some various religious structures. We had kofte wraps (seasoned meat) for lunch and kunefe, a very sweet dessert made with cheese, sugar, and a shredded wheat-like subsistence topped with ice cream, for a snack. It was really great to get out of the compound; I was starting to pace like a lion daily. I've loaded some photos of the day on Facebook, so check them out! (Also, I've updated photos from my life at the site -- see previous blog entry for link).

Even though things have been a bit rough this week, I am still really happy to be here. There are a lot of interesting personalities and various ages at the site/dighouse which keeps things fresh daily. I'll try to write again soon. I'm likely going to a few other archaeological sites this weekend, so I'll have more photos soon! :)

Life as a Square...

Made it to my site without trouble. The 14 hour bus ride was not very enjoyable (a baby cried most of the way, we were stopped in the middle of the night by the Jandarma = military police, had a little girl throw up behind me for several hours, etc.). When I arrived at the bus station, I called my site director, Murat, and he came to pick me up.

Currently, I am living in the dig "compound" as it is called. Wow! So comfortable compared to the last time I was in Turkey! We have several buildings inside a security fence including the dorms, conservation rooms, work rooms, etc. Quite posh! The highlight of all of this though is the fact that we have western toilets! I almost jumped up and down with delight when I saw these glorious features. I was sharing a room with two other girls, but there was a bed shortage so I volunteered to sleep up on the roof (something I'd been asking my director if I could do for a while because my room was so hot I was only sleeping a few hours a night).

There are a fair number of people here. Majority are grad students and specialists, but there are a few undergrads too. It is really enjoyable to be with an older bunch on an excavation as opposed to being with inexperienced groups as I have done in the past. Everyone here is pretty nice, so that's not an issue. A lot of the girls here talk non-stop, so I have been preferring to hang out with one of the Turkish archaeologists and an Italian one who are both about my age. As a result of this, not only is my Turkish improving, but my Italian as well!

I can't believe how much Turkish I know already. Completely mind-blowing how quickly the brain adjusts when it is needed. My workers have taught me a lot too, which is also helpful. Speaking of working in the field...

I was made the supervisor of a trench! Normally they are square in shape, but the area I'm working in is a bit strange, so we had to readjust it to be 6x10 instead of 8x8. There are a lot of responsibilities and a lot of material to keep track of, but I feel like I'm doing alright with it. I even have my own assistant, actually, I will have two soon, plus five local Turkish workers. My workers are great! Most are pretty young, so they are pretty talkative and like to joke with me when I can understand or find someone to translate my answers back to them, haha! Even with the language barrier and my uncertainty in what I'm doing, life in my square is going pretty well!

We celebrated the 4th of July last night since we have to work Sunday morning. MmmMmm good! We BBQ'ed on the grill, had chips, watermelon, different types of meat, and plenty of vodka with juice, haha! The night was really relaxing and it has been great having Saturday off to do nothing. I slept on the roof for the first time last night too --- so much better! We have been having strong winds lately too, so it stayed really cool.

Alright, enough of my blathering for now. Here is a link to my photos. There aren't too many yet, but I'll try to get some of the compound and some more of the site as work continues.

Last Day in Antalya :(

Seems I just arrived here, but I'm preparing to depart again to go to my site to start work... Lame. I will definitely miss this city, especially Murat and his family! They have been very hospitable and have taken me all over the city and a few neighboring areas. Just to give you an idea of some of my daily activities...

At least three of my mornings started out by going to a local swimming spot where one must climb down about 200 meters to the sea. There are stairs, but they are spaced unevenly and end up being quite curvy because they were built following the cliff face. These are called the Falez Cliffs, named after the local rock type. There is no beach at the bottom, only rocks and a short boardwalk-like structure leading to a ladder. Everyone claims a rock and leaves their stuff there while swimming. The spot is quite popular with the old local men, many of which were former administrators of the city Murat tells me. The water here is crystal clear and warm. It is possible to see the bottom of the sea quite a ways out, even though it is deep. There is little current or waves, so swimming is relaxing and enjoyable. I've noticed its helping my ankle a lot too, which is great! We swam here one night too and that was great too, although the water was pretty wavy (but that was fun too for a change and the water was even warmer).

We went to the beach two days on two of the other days. This place was called 'Nirvana Beach' and was made up of well worn pebbles instead of sand, which I have decided I prefer the former because I can stay clean after getting out of the water. Luckily, we have gone early enough in the mornings that we can leave before noon sun -- meaning I haven't burned yet! :)

After the beach or morning swim, we eat breakfast which consists of 3-5 cheeses, 3-4 types of olives, bread, several types of nuts, tomatoes and cucumber in olive oil, bread, and whatever Murat's mom, Leyla, made on the stove such as an omelet, fried cheese, etc. There is also, of course, tea with plenty of sugar. We take about an hour to eat, which certainly rocks the socks off of my usual mornings eating a breakfast of cereal or granola while standing in my kitchen. I will certainly miss these breakfasts. *Sigh*

We wait out the hot part of the day in the air conditioned room while reading or watching TV/movies. A few naps have been thrown in there as well.

Other days when I am not being a slug or a fish, we've gone out exploring. My first day, Murat and I went out in the late afternoon to walk around Old Town. There are a lot of lovely buildings around here, some which are very old. This is also primarily the tourist area and is near the harbor. We walked around here and looked at the boats. Murat decided we needed to take a boat tour, so we did that. It took us along the cliffs providing a nice view of the city.

Two days of my visit were dedicated to seeing ancient sites. Yay! The first one we went to was Termessos, which is a Greek site located in the Tarsus Mountains on the top of one of the peaks. We drove the car up part of the way and then hiked up to the top. The view was spectacular! Impossible to capture in photos or to describe, but absolutely breathtaking! The ruins are scattered throughout the peak, so we hiked around to find them. There is a lot of vegetation blocking some of the fragments and makes it seem very untouched. I liked exploring!

The next day we went to Aspendos, the site of an excellently preserved Roman theatre. There was a great view from the top of this too. The theatre, as I said, was well preserved with virtually every piece intact. Much of the original sculpture from the theatre remains intact at the Antalya Museum (which was different day's actitivity). There was a guy dressed as a Roman soldiers costume that he made himself. Murat's mom wanted a photo with him and I ended up getting one as well. After this site we went to Perge, another really old site, but with remains primarily from the Roman period. A lot of the site was overrun with vegetation, really tall vegetation. The highlight of this site, for me, was the stone canal which ran down the center of a colonnaded area leading up to a large, what used to be grand fountain with a sculpture and three arches that held additional pieces. I could imagine what a welcome scene this would be in the heat.

I think that covers the highlights. Now I'll post the link for the photos so you can see what I've been babbling on about. Enjoy!

Arrived Safely and with ALL My Bags... Check!

I feared a repeat of lost luggage would be in order for this trip, but thankfully my bag arrived when I did. There were a few moments of uncertainty, such as when I was watching the baggage being loaded onto the plane while still in Detroit. I watched them start the process and was getting nervous as the cart became more and more empty and my bag still hadn't been tossed on the plane. Finally I saw it get put on the conveyor belt (the very last of the bags!) and move up toward the door. Suddenly, the belt stopped and started going in reverse and I watched as my bag fell off the belt and on to the ground. I watched it there for several minutes prepared to raise hell if someone didn't pick it up before I got on the plane, but thankfully someone noticed it while walking by and saved me from doing anything rash.

The flights were ok, all were delayed at least an hour. I had a long layover in Chicago (8 hours, haha), so my old roommate, Brian, came and picked me up and we got to visit for the day. Everything in general, aside from the delays, was smooth sailing. On the long flight, I was next to a guy who must have felt he didn't have enough space in his seat because he was constantly bumping me and at one point sleeping with his back against my shoulder as a prop. Meanwhile, I was the most cramped I'd ever been on a flight in part because this window seat had a large curve from the shape of the plane which stole some space. The guy also slept most of the flight and I was only able to get out once from my spot because I couldn't wake him otherwise. Anyway... all was righted when I somehow ended up with a First Class ticket from Istanbul to Antalya! I sat there shocked as the plane was loaded expecting that at any moment I would be kicked out of my seat because I do not recall having that ticket. It didn't happen though and I was treated to a fancy meal, beverages, and stewardesses who were actually really nice!

Murat and his mother picked me up from the airport. I didn't think he'd be able to find me because my phone is not working as it is supposed to be, so I had no way of telling him where I was. Somehow we connected and made it back to his parents apartment where I'm staying while in Antalya. I like the city so far. Its warm, but not as warm as I was anticipating and there are beautiful flowering bushes everywhere! Yesterday we went swimming early in the morning and spent some time in the Old City. We took a boat ride along the coast for another view of the city, which has some amazing cliffs, and the mountains near by.

Overall, its great to be back in Turkey. I will be sure to update soon with some photos and more news. :)

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

Its that time of year again! I'll be on the road again in less than two days. Destination: southern Turkey. I'll be in two places as I mentioned in a previous blog, Antalya and Hatay. I'm pretty excited to go back to Turkey and to have the chance to explore new areas of a country I already love!

In the meantime, I will enjoy the rest of my time at home with my family before I set out on the open road again. I've been home for a week already and it has been very relaxing -- and has gone by way too fast!

Overall, not much new to report other than I'll be leaving on Saturday. Instead of mass-emails this year, I'm just going to update the blog that way I can actually include photos. :)

To set the mood for my bon voyage, I'm including The 50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes as listed by BraveNewTraveler.com. The website is pretty great overall, lots of funny and useful travel articles if anyone has the travel itch!

Farewell for now! This will be the last stateside update for a while!

Wrapping It Up Like a Christmas Present

I finally have a free moment to update! The past few weeks have been a toss up between being busy, exhausted, or house hunting. Luckily I seem to have solved one of these problems!

I'm nearing the end of my first year in graduate school --- holy cow that went fast! I have a lot of stuff to do before then end of the year still. I'm almost done with the big project (analyzing the weaving tools). I have one more big paper, and then a short 5 pager. I think I'm going to make it :)

Teaching is going well. Only one more lab this semester and I am done teaching for a few months!

I bought my ticket to Turkey for the summer. I'm leaving June 20th and will spend a few days in Antalya (be sure to click the link and see the Wiki page for photos) before going to my excavation site. The site I'll be at is called Alalakh. I'm getting pretty excited. I'll be there for over two months.

On to the good news. Don't want to get ahead of myself like I did last time, but it looks like I've got a house. I should explain, my offer and such was accepted, I'm just waiting for a good inspection. I thought I was going to have a house a month or so ago, but the inspection went poorly and I withdrew my offer. I've taken photos of the house already, but I'll wait to post them until I'm 100% sure. Keep your fingers crossed! Its a pretty big house in need of a good deal of work, luckily its mostly just aesthetics --- no major structural issues that I'm aware of!

Other than that, I've been trying to have some fun when I can. I planned on going to the zoo today, but it was much colder than the rest of the week has been and it was supposed to rain, so I decided to postpone it. I did manage to get a late breakfast instead which was really yummy! I get random cravings for biscuits and gravy some days. I'm not from the South as far as I'm aware... Tomorrow my friend Linda and I are going to the Minneapolis-St. Paul annual home tour. I figured it would be a good way to see what some of the other houses around here look like so I know what my competition will be when I go to sell mine in 5+ years and also it will be good for getting some ideas about how I want to decorate! I'll try to take pictures of the good ones!

Mmmmk...nothing else too exciting to report other than my strange eating habits: I've almost eaten an entire package of Oreos in two days (only one row left), chips with canned cheese, and some other strange things. That's the thing about eating natural foods/mostly organic, when you get cravings to processed stuff, you end up binging on it and then you feel like crap later, but you just can't stop eating. I think that illustrates some major food altering/added chemicals to make you addicted to the food! Yikes!